Heat

Chapter One: A glimpse of the sun

The blond mutant scowled as he snuck through the trees to get a good vantage point on the back lawn of Xavier's School for Gifted Children. Home of the X-Gits, he thought to himself disgustedly.

Dunno why Magneto couldn't send the Cajun for this. He lives for this stealth shit. Gimme a good open scuffle any day. But Magneto's orders must be followed, after all. Pyro might be a rebel at heart, but as an Acolyte, disobeying the boss man was probably suicidal.

Despite his inner grumbling, the mutant was agile enough to avoid detection as he crept close to the wall and climbed into a tree to watch the unwitting students at play. Typical teenage hormones seemed to be the order of the day, as the boys tried to show off to the girls--and vice versa. Bobby Drake created a sheet of ice over the grass that sent the other boys sliding and falling. It also had the intended effect of getting one of the girls to slip... right into his arms.

The watching Acolyte snickered quietly to himself at the scene. Then stopped short when the Brazilian-looking girl pushed away from the boy, laughing as she melted his ice with flames from her hands. His mood plummeted again. Why the hell could she call fire out nowhere when he couldn't? Stupid power, useless without the flamethrower strapped to his back.

As he continued to watch, the two students started chasing each other around the lawn, Iceman skating on his wave of ice, and the girl... Pyro's eyes narrowed. She seemed to be creating lava, which rapidly hardened under her feet. So her power wasn't just an improved version of his, but something different.

A couple hours later, the sun was about to set, and the reluctant spy prepared to leave. The gruff voice of Wolverine called the students to dinner. Then Pyro saw something that made him freeze, an unusual experience for him.

The dark girl was no longer dark, but a blaze almost too bright to look at. Her body and even her hair was seemingly transformed into liquid fire as she raced her classmates inside. She left a trail of smoking grass behind her.

The lawn was empty, quiet, and getting dark before Pyro came out of his reverie and climbed out of the tree.